In this program, based on his book, Lightning Beneath the Sea, author James M. Tabor will tell the thrilling story of the 19th century’s Apollo moonshot: an Atlantic-spanning telegraph cable that changed the world. In 1854, the American entrepreneur Cyrus Field set out to lay a 2,000-mile telegraph cable across the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. Nothing like it had ever been attempted. Field knew nothing about telegraphy, electricity, ships, or oceans. But he believed that wiring the world for near-instantaneous communication would bring about peace on Earth. As Mr. Tabor will describe in enthralling detail, how in 1866, after enduring over a decade of catastrophic failures and staggering losses, Field would finally lay his great cable, ushering in the global information age.

This event is co-sponsored with the General Society of Mechanics & Tradesmen. Tabor’s book will be available for purchase at the in-person event.

Wednesday, June 10
6:00–7:00 p.m.
The General Society Library
20 West 44th Street, New York City

Purchase tickets (in-person).

Purchase tickets (streaming).

James M. Tabor is the author of six books, including the award-winning Forever on the Mountain and best-selling Blind Descent. A creator of the History Channel’s Journey to the Center of the World, he has written for Time, Smithsonian, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and others. He lives in Waitsfield, Vermont.